Chapter 55 : Convergence Part – 6
Leon was standing outside the administration building when the screen went black and didn't come back.
For a moment nobody in the crowd moved. Then people started talking over each other, pulling out phones, looking around for any security personnel who might explain what had just happened.
Leon wasn't looking at the screen anymore. He was looking at the building's entrance.
Something was wrong. He didn't have a precise reason for it — just the feed cutting mid-proceeding, the crowd's sudden uncertainty, the way the guards at the door had gone rigid and stopped interacting with anyone. He walked toward the entrance.
"You can't go back in," the guard said. Same one who'd escorted him out.
"I need to—"
"You've been dismissed. Step back."
Leon looked past him into the building's interior. The hallway was visible through the glass for a few meters before it turned. Nothing to see from here.
"Please. There's someone in there who—"
"Step back."
Leon stepped forward instead.
The guard moved fast and had both his arms before he got through the door. Leon pulled against it, got one arm partially free, tried to push through the gap, and then a second guard came from the side, they had him properly and were walking him backward away from the entrance.
"Let go of me—"
They didn't.
Leon stopped pulling. He stood there breathing and looked at the entrance and felt completely useless.
Then he saw the man in black.
Coming from the far side of the building's approach, moving with a small group of people around him who weren't academy security — different gear, different bearing, the kind of people who don't belong to an institution. The man himself was young, well-dressed, unhurried. The guards at the entrance stepped aside without being asked and let the group through.
The door closed behind them.
Inside, in the hallway adjacent to the trial room, Tristen Riven had been waiting on a bench for eleven minutes when a guard came and told him the panel was ready for him.
He straightened his jacket and followed the guard in.
The room was different from how he'd expected it. Noah Clove was there — the one who'd been with Krai in the zone, who had apparently caused this entire situation by invoking the Witness Clause — currently being held down by a guard. The panelists were at the front but the lead one looked agitated, phone in hand, trying to reach someone.
Tristen's father had told him the security dispatch team would give the statement in his favor. From what he could see, that had apparently happened and Noah had not taken it well.
The phone connected.
"Lady Denice," the panelist said. "The broadcast has been cut. Both the accused and the reporting candidate are currently present in the room."
"Good," Denice said.
The phone cut.
The panelist lowered it. Before he could say anything the main door opened.
Akira Kagami came in.
Tristen had seen him at two council functions and had never spoken to him directly. Kagami family, Japanese, genuinely one of the most powerful people in the academy by blood and position. He was of A2 rank & one of the six Secondary Member of the Student Council. From everything Tristen had heard Akira was considered the least serious member in the council. He came in with his own security, hands in his jacket pockets, and looked around the room with the mild interest of someone who had walked into a party.
Every person in the room bowed. Tristen did too, quickly.
Akira smiled at them all in a way that made the room more uncomfortable rather than less.
"Except these two you all can go," he said pleasantly. "I'll take it from here."
The panelists left. The guards left — including the one holding Noah, who released him on the way out. Tristen's personal escort filed out. The room emptied in under ninety seconds, everyone going out the room, heads down, then leaving through the building's side exit.
The door closed.
Akira looked at the two of them — Noah on one side of the room, Tristen on the other.
Akira activated a holographic interface in the center of the room. Denice appeared in it.
Outside, Leon had stopped struggling but hadn't moved from the entrance area. The two guards had repositioned themselves between him and the door.
"Leon."
He turned.
Leah Crest was coming across the approach from the left, Nick Wilson two steps behind her with a tablet under his arm. She was moving quickly but not running. When she reached him she looked at the guards, then at the building entrance, then at Leon.
"What happened to the broadcast."
"It got cut. Mid-proceeding. Someone came in, a guy in black, and they let him through and now—"
"How long ago."
"Five minutes maybe. I've been trying to get back in."
Leah looked at the guards at the entrance. She reached into the document folder Nick was already handing over and took out a single sheet.
"I'm Leah Crest, C2." She held the paper toward the guard. "I'm invoking appeal rights on behalf of Austin Crest, B1, under his formal authorization. This student is requesting re-entry for active appeal of his case."
The guard looked at the document. Looked at her band. Looked at the document again.
Then he stepped aside.
Leah put the paper back in the folder and looked at Leon. "Come on."
The three of them went inside.
In the hallway Leon turned to her. "Thank you. Genuinely. I—"
"Save it for after," she said, moving fast. "Which room."
"End of the hall, left."
They came around the corner and Leah stopped walking.
Two guards in different gear — not academy standard — were standing at the trial room door. Behind them, a student council insignia on the wall-mounted panel indicated the room was under council authority.
Nick came up beside Leah and saw the insignia. "Someone from the council is in there."
Leah's expression shifted. She was doing a calculation Leon couldn't follow.
"The papers won't work here," she said quietly to Nick.
"No."
Leon stepped forward toward the council guards. "Please. The person in that room is my friend. I need—"
"No entry."
"He's being tried right now and I have information that's relevant to the case, I can help, just let me—"
"No entry."
Leon looked at the door. He could hear nothing through it.
Inside, Denice's hologram addressed Noah.
"The Council reviewed the trial," she said. "You had no supporting evidence and the case was moving toward dismissal. The Council wishes to offer you another opportunity."
Noah was looking at the hologram. He hadn't spoken since the room emptied.
"We have looked into the history of Tristen Riven," Denice continued. "Specifically his involvement in the death of Maria Novak. The victim's sister." She paused. "Given this history, the Council is prepared to grant you decision authority over a death penalty for Tristen Riven."
Tristen's face had gone completely white.
He tried to say something. The two council guards who'd stayed in the room moved immediately and had his arms before he finished the first word.
"However," Denice said, "the Council wishes to understand the extent of your commitment. Sir Simon will grant you decision authority over Tristen Riven's life if you agree to die alongside him."
Noah didn't move.
Akira was standing to one side watching the hologram with his hands in his pockets. His expression was interested.
"If you decline this offer," She continued, "Tristen Riven will be released. And as per standard academy rules, you will face the standard penalties as you had used your entire CPP count to invoke the witness clause “
Noah stared at the hologram.
The room was completely silent.
Then behind him the door opened and a guard came in, leaned close to Akira and said something quietly. Akira's expression shifted slightly.
Akira looked at the hologram for a moment. Then at Noah.
"Let the boy in," he said.
The door opened again.
Leon came through with a guard behind him. He looked at the room — Tristen pinned between two guards, trying to say something that the guards weren't letting him say, Noah standing in the center looking like the floor had dropped out from under him, and a holographic image of a woman he didn't recognize.
Then the hologram spoke.
"You need to decide quickly," Denice said to Noah. "If you want justice for your friend and his sister, it will cost your life. If you don't—"
"Don't." Leon screamed, he had sensed something wrong from her statement & tried to move toward Noah but the guard at his shoulder blocked him. "Noah, don't. Whatever they're offering, don't."
Noah looked at him.
"Leon what are you doing here—"
"It doesn't matter, don't do it, whatever the deal is don't—"
"Step back," the guard said.
"Noah listen to me—"
"I said step back." The guard had his arm.
Leon pulled against it. "Noah—"
Noah looked at him for a long moment. Then at the hologram. Then at the floor.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I can't do it… I can’t accept this offer"
The moment he said it his face showed what it cost him. He stood there looking at nothing in particular and his expression was the expression of someone who has just made the decision they'll think about for a very long time. He was feeling ashamed of his own choice.
Then from the hologram — a different voice. Not Denice.
"What a shame." The voice was calm and unhurried. "I had high hopes for you."
A pause.
"Kill them both."
Noah's head came up. Leon went still.
Tristen made a sound that wasn't quite a word.
Then Akira turned toward Leon with a mild, almost apologetic expression.
"Kid," he said. "Scenes like this are censored." He nodded at the guard. "Go back outside."
The guard took Leon's arm and moved him toward the door before he could do anything about it. Leon grabbed the door frame with his free hand.
"Noah—"
"Out," the guard said, and pulled him through.
The door closed.
Leah and Nick were both looking at him when he came back into the hallway.
Leon couldn't hear them. He was looking at the closed door and the council guards in front of it and then Leon was screaming something at them — he knew he was talking, could feel it — but whatever he was saying wasn't getting through to anyone.
The guards weren't moving.
The door wasn't opening.
He stopped.
He stood in the hallway and looked at the closed door and then looked at his phone in his hand without remembering taking it out.
Something clicked into place with a cold, precise quality.
There was one thing. One person. The only one who make not just the Academy or the person inside the hologram but everyone in the entire world stand down completely.
Leon's hands were shaking when he unlocked the screen.
He found the contact.
Iris.
He pressed dial.